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Did the RPTVs from Sony or JVC use any form of active cooling such as fans?
If RPTVs were without fans I don´t think we can compare them with front projectors with fans.
I think it is important to see that LED and lasers will improve the life time of liquid crystal displays providing light without contaminants such as IR and UV.

Did the RPTVs from Sony or JVC use any form of active cooling such as fans?
If RPTVs were without fans I don´t think we can compare them with front projectors with fans.
I think it is important to see that LED and lasers will improve the life time of liquid crystal displays providing light without contaminants such as IR and UV.

Sony's TVs have at least three relevant fans. One that blows air directly across the optical block parts, like the liquid crystal panels and filters, one that blows air across the front of the projection lamp, and one that blows the heated air out the back of the TV. There is another fan that cools the electronic boards in the module with the audio and video connections, but that one is not relevant here. Whether this cooling is more or less efficient than the front projectors, I do not know.

splinke -- FYI, my current Mitsubishi PJ (an older LCD model) uses 2 fans to cool the panels/polarizers and one more fan for the lamp. This 3 fan arrangement is used on their HC5500, HC6500, HC6800, and HC7000 models (as described in their brochures for those products). I would assume that they will use a similar cooling design on their HC9000.

My previous PJs used only one or two, in parallel (on my DLP), fans, which were only used to exhaust the heat out of the units. This is the more typical arrangement for PJ fan(s). I have no idea what Sony (or JVC) uses in their LCoS PJs.

My JVC RPTV also has multiple fans with at least one dedicated to the light engine. There are also temperature sensors that will generate error codes and shut down the TV if the measured temp goes too high.

Mobile phones are manufactured with a certain life time expectancy. This might be what Sony is ok with as far as sxrd is concerned. If I can get 5000 hours of good performance from sxrd I will be satisfied. However if you are using up 3000 hours of projector time in a year dlp might be the way to go.

I have a VW50 bought 2007 Feb. Now on my fourth bulb with a total hour count around 9000. The picture is still perfectly fine. Each year I wanted to upgrade but ended up replace the lamp. Maybe when the LED projector finally come down on price.

I have never heard anyone with a Sony projector complain of the same kinds of issues that Sony's rear projection sets experienced. Has anyone heard of one such complaint? There have been anecdotal reports of loss of contrast on Sony front projectors but, in my mind, these are just anecdotal reports.

I have also never heard of anyone complain about D-ILA front projectors in this way. Surely some D-ILAs break prematurely.

I had a DLP tv fail on me because a focusing lens melted. This created a visible mark on the picture. I had another DLP TV fail when the color wheel went. I had a DLP projector where the DMD itself failed - some of the mirrors would not respond ( replaced under warranty). Does my experience mean that that DLPs are prone to failure? I don't think so.

I had an LCD rear projection TV that developed something called the Red Cloud - all of these sets did after about a year of use. It was replaced under warranty with a redesigned light engine.

I still have a 20+ year old CRT TV (I wish it would fail).

Things break over time. These are complicated devices with many things that can go wrong. Why worry about it?

I buy what seems like the best thing at the moment and hope to get as much out of it as I can. Extended warranties are available to protect your investment if you are a worrier. I habitually turn these down and am sure that I am better off financially for having done so.

So I guess we keep our eyes and ears open for more tid-bits of info, but we won't know the full score until the fall. Just like most years, we will probably get the real info released at Cedia in September. I wonder if any of the other LCD pj manufacturers are on schedule to switch from LCD to LCOS tech any time soon.

I have never had a digital projector for more than a couple of thousand hours if that. More like 500 hours and I think I watch a lot of sports. But every year I get 3 or 4 models to play with at home and sell them all off except for the one I like the best. I have always chosen a DLP one. I do have a legally blind friend who can see a bit if blown up very large and he runs his FP CRT machine about 3000 to 4000 hours a year. He just switched to DLP.

Curious to hear more about this Mits and the other models (besides DLP.......RBE is a deal killer for me) coming up at Cedia. I keep missing out on the RS10 deals on AVS, but maybe there is a reason for it Cedia is not far off now!

Curious to hear more about this Mits and the other models (besides DLP.......RBE is a deal killer for me) coming up at Cedia. I keep missing out on the RS10 deals on AVS, but maybe there is a reason for it Cedia is not far off now!

The latest news of other manufacturers introducing 3D projectors in 2010 is Epson will have their first LCoS models and included will be models with 3D support using polarized light/glasses rather than shutter glasses. No prices announced, but I would speculate they will be under $5K. Sony has recently demo'ed (reported in some European press) their first 3D SXRD (LCoS with shutter glasses) projector. Both JVC (LCoS - probably with shutter glasses) and LG (LCoS with polarized glasses) have announced (demo'ed in the case of LG) 3D projectors. Also be aware that projectors that use polarization require the use of a special sliver screen for viewing 3D. Since such screens are not well suited for viewing normal 2D video, most people that will probably need to install two screens, ie., one for viewing 2D videos and a 2nd screen for viewing 3D video. So while polarized glasses are cheap as compared to shutter glasses, the cost and hassle of needing a 2nd projection screen is a significant factor that must be considered.

The latest news of other manufacturers introducing 3D projectors is Epson will have their first LCoS models and included will be models with 3D support using polarized light/glasses rather than shutter glasses. No prices announced, but I would speculate they will be under $5K.

Thanks for the info Ron. Polarized light/glasses is out for me due to needing a special screen. I am going to stick with active shutter models which it sounds like JVC, Sony, Panasonic (others?) will be using. Most likely will skip fist gen machines anyway, but who knows..........we will see what Cedia brings.

Also be aware that projectors that use polarization require the use of a special sliver screen for viewing 3D. Since such screens are not well suited for viewing normal 2D video, most people that will probably need to install two screens, ie., one for viewing 2D videos and a 2nd screen for viewing 3D video. So while polarized glasses are cheap as compared to shutter glasses, the cost and hassle of needing a 2nd projection screen is a significant factor that must be considered.

The digital cinemas I been to using RealD 3D (circular polarization) had a normal looking screen that looked perfectly all-right during the 2D trailers before the movie. Couldn't see any hotspotting or other artifacts either. In fact, the screen looked like a perfectly normal white screen even with the lights on. Maybe a newly developed technology to retain polarization without going to silver?

Then we also have the Dolby 3D system which is based on slightly shifted wavelengths for RGB for each eye and narrow-band filter glasses. The system is passive, looks very good and doesn't require a special screen.

I don't like the active systems I have seen so far (3D TVs). The left and right eye images leaks into each other, creating ghosting, and I got eye-fatigue almost immediately. I think it was caused by the flickering nature of the glasses.